While an urgent need to diversify and a lack of capital are challenges facing economic development in Michigan, efforts to retain and retrain talent are very important, as well.

The economic development panel at Synergy, Michigan's commercial real estate conference on April 29, addressed issues of diversification and capital, as well as teamwork and entrepreneurialism. But the conversation kept returning to talent.

"Michigan will face significant challenges in terms of having enough people to fill jobs ... not just enough bodies but enough trained people that have the kind of skill set that's needed," said Greg Main, president and CEO of the Michigan Economic Development Corp.

Michigan does have a good talent pool to draw from. For instance, Saginaw County area has one of the largest concentrations of Ph.D.s per capita in the United States, and 53 percent of the work force has some college education, said JoAnn Crary, president of Saginaw Future Inc.

SYNERGY COVERAGE

Business Review attended Synergy and posted coverage throughout the day

Also, most panelists agreed that the region is rife with engineering talent, but that may not be enough.

"The types of jobs we're creating require a whole different skill set, and (prospective companies are) certainly asking about the training skills of the employees that are here and how they can get access to training and team up with local universities," said Brian Murphy, assistant city manager of economic development services for the city of Troy.

Murphy said connecting businesses with universities and even high schools and middle schools is very important because it shows a commitment to education and lifelong learning.

Andy Meisner is thinking even further into the future.

"I think the biggest game changer for us is something that's not normally considered an economic development tool, but trust me when I say that it is, and that's early childhood education," said Meisner, treasure-elect for Oakland County and former state representative.

Meisner explained that 80 percent of a child's brain is developed before the age of five.

States that have successfully transitioned from a labor-based economy to a knowledge-based economy, such as North Carolina, have invested in early childhood education, he said. Investing in early childhood education makes it more likely the children are going to succeed academically and go to college, and less likely they will have dangerous social problems.

"I (suggest) early childhood education as the biggest game changer and the most cost-effective dollars that the state government spends," Meisner said

Others are focusing on community colleges as a resource to quickly retrain the work force.

Every quarter, Michigan Works!, Delta Community College and the Saginaw Country area employers who are hiring get together and try to predict what kind of jobs and skills they're going to need, Crary said.

One thing they found recently was the need for hundreds of chemical operator jobs for the next several years. Delta College has a two-year chemical operator/chemical processing associates degree program, but they condensed that to a four-week fast-track program, which is getting national attention.

He said that within the past year, new studies say in the economic crash, that's not true.

"People are going where they have relationships around employment," he said. "Given a choice, they will go where it's cool, but they've got to have a job first."
Internships are very important for building those relationships, Kitchens said.

"Law firms have known that for two or three generations -- they've recruited top talent their sophomore and junior years," he said. "We in business forgot that."